


Slow Down To Begin

by Naomida



Series: Fire Meet Gasoline [6]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Another Ball (TM), F/M, Female Friendship, Gen, Non-Graphic Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 19:08:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12637341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naomida/pseuds/Naomida
Summary: “Did you go see your king like I told you to?” asked Ilana with a smirk.Lidya rolled her eyes but a smile was pulling at her lips.“I did, it was great. Ravandwyr came up with a plan to help me get him but just like you he disappeared a couple weeks ago.”“It’s fine, I’m sure Anduin will come up with another ball to get the two of you together.”





	Slow Down To Begin

There was blood on her teeth. Lidya knew because Ansirem told her so as soon as she walked into the Violet Citadel. She curled her lip back to let him see it even better instead of replying and snorted when he grimaced in disgust.

One day, she was going to duel him, and she would win and give his spot on the Council to someone that he hated, just because she disliked him that much.

“What happened?” asked Khadgar once Ansirem had sat down as far away from Lidya as possible.

“The city is literally crawling with demons and the only elves on our side are mana craving homeless people. Their base of operation is a dark cave, and there’s only four of us. It’s not going well.”

“Why are you bleeding?” asked Kalec.

“Because most of the region that’s not overrun by demons is overrun by withered, elves that succumbed to their addiction and are now barely more than beasts.”

“Were you attacked?” pressed Khadgar, although it was pretty obvious.

“Twelve to one, but I won and that’s the most important part. Now,” she added before someone could make her lose her time with stupid question any more, “what’s the news about the Illidari? Are they back?”

“The portal in Dalaran is back but we haven’t seen any of their big names yet.”

Lidya frowned. This wasn’t what she had been hoping for.

“Send for me as soon as Ilana is back, okay? I want to talk to her.”

“About what?” asked Ansirem, and Lidya just glared at him until Karlain changed the subject.

It wasn’t that she was particularly looking for a fight – Light knew she had enough things to fight for a lifetime in Suramar – but she was on the edge and nothing she tried calmed her down.

The Illidari had disappeared three weeks before, she hadn’t seen Varian in about as many day, and the Tirisgarde’s campaign against the Legion was barely progressing. The fact that she was now expected to help save the entire shal’dorei population from their evil leader and the legion was the last straw.

She was stressed and exhausted and scared and just about ready to lose it.

Unfortunately, the Council didn’t care much. No one did, really. The only time she had been able to find any sort of sympathy those last few weeks had been when she had joined the new Highlord Ariah and the new Archdruid, a night elf named Cary, for a drink. Both women had shared her feeling of being used for the greater good for little care about their well-being, and it reassured her to realize that she wasn’t the only one with this feeling.

And now, the Council was making her take an hour out of her day to come and tell them things that they all already knew: she wasn’t making any progress in Suramar.

“There’s nothing more I can tell you,” she said after Kalec asked the same question for the third time, with just a tiny bit of reformulation. “I can’t get into the city without help and the few elves I managed to make contact with barely trust me enough to _speak_ to me. The shores are overrun with nagas, murlocs, vrykuls or all three at the same time. I’m on a goose chase for an artifact I know nothing about _and_ instead of letting me do my thing, you insist on having me lose time here every three days.”

“We want to make sure the situation is handled correctly,” said Karlain.

“Go there yourself then if you don’t trust me.”

Ansirem rolled his eyes and the temperature in the room rose by at least twenty degrees.

“Lidya, please,” said Khadgar, using his softest tone, “we just want to make sure that everything is going as smoothly as possible.”

“What he means is that he doesn’t want you to tell us off like the Shadowblade did,” said Vargoth.

It was his first time speaking since Lidya had arrived – it was, in fact, the first time she had seen him with the Council since she had brought him back – and not for the first time she was _very_ glad she had saved him from his tower in Outland.

Everyone else glared at him.

“I’m not surprised,” she replied before anyone could say anything to Vargoth. She waited for their attention to turn back to her before continuing, “you act as if the twelve of us are nothing more than pawn. We do everyone’s dirty work and get nothing in return. Look at the archdruid, she almost died in the Nightmare and none of you even batted an eyelash.”

“That’s not true–” started Modera but Lidya cut her off with a hand gesture.

“We’re expendable, we all know it. The second we die, someone else will, somehow, rise to take out spot, none of us have the audacity to think otherwise, but you don’t realize that you’re asking too much – and I’m not just talking about the six of you. Genn wants me to fight the Horde, the elves in Suramar want me to fight for their freedom, you guys want me to fight for artifacts I know nothing about, Prince Farondis wants me to fight the last nagas still in Azsuna, and on top of that I have the Tirisgarde and all its mages to take care of. Of course someone was going to snap, you’re just lucky it was the Shadowblade and not Ilana.”

No one said anything for a while, so Lidya nodded, got up and left.

  


  


***

  


  


Lidya was laying directly on the stony floor, gritting her teeth and keeping her eyes squeezed shut while Valtrois was muttering something in a language that sounded a lot like Darnassian.

There was no healer, because all three people living in Shal’aran were _fucking mages_ , just like her, and the possibility of dying was getting higher with every second that passed.

“I just need to get to Dalaran,” she tried, for the fourth time, “it’s just a nasty wound, any healer worth something would be able to stop the bleeding.”

Valtrois just continued to mutter something, and for the first time since she had arrived, already bleeding, Lidya remembered that she hadn’t given any mana crystal to anyone in a while now.

“Fuckkkkk,” she gasped as she forced herself to roll to her stomach and start crawling to the exit.

Sometimes Aludane sent gryphons, just in case, and she was hoping to get lucky.

She did, in a way, because outside she found three withered fighting off a demon hunter, and by the time Lidya got to them, Ilana had already killed them.

“Good to see you stayed busy while I was away,” said the elf, sheathing her glaives on her back before swooping down to grab Lidya by the arms and lift her up.

Bridal style in Ilana’s arms, Lidya had to admit that she wasn’t chagrined by how well her day was turning out and she put her arms around her shoulders, barely holding a scream of surprise when Ilana bent the knees and surged into the sky, two huge wings appearing out of nowhere on her back.

“I thought it was hard to fly here because of the perpetual storm above the Tomb,” yelled Lidya over the wind and the leathery sound of her wings flapping.

“It is,” replied Ilana, tightening her grip on her, “but you obviously need help right now.”

“How did you know, by the way? You arrived just in time.”

“I’m just that good,” she replied, and a moment later Dalaran was visible through the clouds so they stopped talking.

In the end, Lidya was scolded by the nurse and put on a bed to nap for a while after she was healed, but they both knew it wasn’t going to happen and the nurse just sighed and left when Ilana joined her.

“So, what took you so long?” asked Lidya, watching closely as Ilana took her glaives off and sat down on the bed she was occupying.

“Things got a little complicated.”

“Meaning?”

“We killed the traitors but Kayn...” she bit down on her lips and turned away, pretending to look out the window. “Kayn did something I understand but can’t condone.”

“Where is he now?”

“Punished in Highmountain for a while.”

“And you? What are you planning on doing?”

“I still need to bring Illidan back,” she said. “You?”

“Suramar is going to keep me busy for a while.”

“Did you go see your king like I told you to?” she asked with a smirk.

Lidya rolled her eyes but a smile was pulling at her lips.

“I did, it was great. Ravandwyr came up with a plan to help me get him but just like you he disappeared a couple weeks ago.”

“It’s fine, I’m sure Anduin will come up with another ball to get the two of you together.”

“What?” frowned Lidya, but Ilana, whose smirk had tripled, was already up on her feet and walking to the door. “What the fel do you mean by that?”

“Nothing, and I’m glad you waited until I came back to almost bleed to death, now sleep for a while. You look like you need it.”

“You’re an elf, it’s unfair of you to tell me I look like shit, and don’t think I’m just gonna let this go. What do you mean?”

“See you later,” she replied just as she was walking out the door.

Lidya couldn’t help but snort, because she _really_ had missed her.

  


  


***

  


  


She found Khadgar waiting in front of her bedchambers later that night, after she had gone back to Shal’aran to supply everyone with mana crystals. The archmage looked troubles, but they all had problems of their own and Lidya was still mad at him.

“Ilana is back,” he said when she stepped next to him and began to deactivate the securities protecting her room.

“I know, she came to me earlier,” she replied, turning to look at Khadgar and frown when she realized he was blushing. “What?”

“Nothing.”

He blushed redder and she frowned harder, until he looked away.

“I don’t know if you think you’re being discreet, but I know your “secret”,” she said just as she was deactivating the last enchantment and her door opened.

Her new room on the Archmage’s floor was bigger and better than the last one, but she did miss having Ravandwyr only three doors away – not that she didn’t see him anymore, since he was always with Vargoth on the floor or somewhere else anyway.

“What secret are you talking about?” asked Khadgar, following her in and closing the door behind him.

He stayed right where he was while she went to her bed and started shedding parts of her armor.

Felo’melorn and her cape went first as she replied.

“You’re in love with her, it’s as obvious as me with Varian, you don’t have to play innocent, at least not with me.”

She threw him a quick glance as she started unfastening her left shoulder-guard, and he had only grown redder.

“So, what happened?”

“We had sex.”

Lidya’s heart missed a beat and she froze for an entire second, before remembering that he wouldn’t take this reaction as a good thing.

“When?” she asked, putting her left shoulder-guard down and starting to work on the right one.

“Very early this morning. We met at Krasus Landing and I’m not quite sure what happened but...” when Lidya turned to look at him, he had a far away and dreamy look on his face. “We had sex.” He finally met Lidya’s eyes and gave her a sad smile. “I’m not stupid, I know it doesn’t mean anything, but...”

“But it’s still something to hold on to,” she finished for him, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

She couldn’t remember how many nights in Draenor the memory of Varian on the Skybreaker had kept her going – and Ilana was _very_ easy to love and be attracted to, she couldn’t blame him.

“How do you feel?” she asked, sitting down at the foot of her bed and taking her gloves off before getting to her bracers.

“Good, for now. I hope it’ll last.”

She nodded.

“So...” he said after a long silence as Lidya put her bracers down and leaned over to unlace her boots, “you’re in love with Varian, uh?”

She sent him a flat look. “You’ve known for a while.”

“I have, but there’s a whole difference between knowing and you telling me.”

“Yeah well, life is too short to pretend I’m not attracted to the insanely hot and most powerful man in the Alliance.”

“Maybe you should try the Ilana way.”

 _Been there done that_ , she thought with a snort.

“I have a plan already, but if it fails I will.”

“Alright,” he chuckled.

“Was that all you wanted, archmage?”

“As a matter of fact, archmage,” he replied, finally crossing the space separating them to sit down next to her, “no. We have a lot to talk about and not much time before the Council realizes I’m gone.”

She toed her shoes off and leaned back on her hands, interest piqued. “I’m listening.”

  


  


***

  


  


For the following month, Lidya didn’t come back to Dalaran. She invoked Vargoth’s image about once every week to keep the Council posted on what was going on, and Ilana dropped by a lot to help her with some big targets, but other than that, she spent all of her time directly in the city of Suramar, pretending to be Lyleth Lunastre’s little sister.

It was by far one of the worst experience of her life. The fact that she was basically surrounded by enemies no matter where she went wasn’t even the worst thing. The horrors she had to witness without being able to act and help, that was what messed with her mind the most.

She could have saved _at least_ a dozen of innocents by now, but Lyleth or someone else on the same side as her always stopped her.

“You’ll die,” they said.

“You just have to be patient.”

“We can’t attack them yet, we have to wait.”

She was going to snap.

At nights, when she was safe inside the Lunastre Estate and could finally take off the glamour giving her Anaris Lunastre’s appearance, she spent hours and hours praying. The Light was the only thing in this city that gave her comfort and she missed, now more than ever, her sister, who had been there with her for some of Draenor.

“I’m not going to be able to do this for much longer,” she told Vargoth the next time she talked to him but he could only give her a sad smile.

“We’re doing everything we can to send you help, but it’s complicated.”

“How so?”

“I can’t tell you,” he replied, and she canceled the spell.

She stood right where she was for a while, eyes lost on the carpeted floor of Anaris’ chambers, wondering if it was really worth it. The farm in Pandaria was _always_ a viable option, or she could always find a small cottage somewhere on Outland, where no one would think to look for her. The Tirisgarde would be fine without her and in Modera, Meryl and Ravandwyr’s hands. She would miss some people, but she could probably live with that, at least for a while.

Ilana would kill her if she found her, but it wouldn’t be the worst way to go.

Sighing, the newly appointed archmage decided that fantasizing about the impossible was a loss of time, and she left her chambers in long strides, telling herself that a walk through the city could be a good idea to take her mind off of everything.

It was a shit idea, it turned out, because everywhere she went she found scared civilians, some of them obviously already starting to wither, and guards beating them while the rest ignored it.

She tried to ignore it too for a while, gritting her teeth and keeping her eyes firmly turned to the ground, but people were crying and begging for mercy, and each one she passed felt like a blade in her chest.

She reached her limit when she turned a corner to get out of the Bazaar and found two young men being threatened by a guard.

Felo’melorn was concealed but still there at her side and she felt her temperature rise as she took a determined step to them, ready to kill.

Someone grabbed her arm before she could get further and she turned to them with fire licking at her back, wanting to tell them to fuck off.

“Don’t do it Lidya,” said the guard holding her, in Common, and the surprise was enough to have the flames disappear.

“What did you call me?” she asked, frowning, watching closely at his face, but if he was wearing a glamour, it was as good as hers.

“Lidya,” he said. “Don’t do it.”

“Let go of me,” she replied between gritted teeth.

His grip on her arm got tighter instead and he pulled her closer to him.

“You’re my sword and you can bet I’m not letting you die here today, or any other day, understood?”

She frowned harder and opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by the guard terrorizing the young men.

“Hey!” he yelled, turning to them, his sword in hand, “what’s going on?”

The guard holding her gave her a nod instead of replying, before letting go of her arm and walking back into the Bazaar, disappearing into the crowd.

“Everything okay miss?” asked the other guard, who had stepped away from his victims and closer to her.

“Can you accompany me back to the Lunastre Estate?” she asked, taking a step in his direction too, taking care of never looking at the two men on the ground who were slowly but surely trying to inch away.

“Of course miss,” replied the guard, sheathing his sword and joining her.

Lidya smiled and followed him, hoping the young men would manage to get somewhere safe before another guard arrived.

As for the guard, he wouldn’t get to see another day.

  


  


***

  


  


Lidya sneaked Ilana into her chambers two days later and told her about it.

“Do you want me to stay close and intervene next time it happens?”

Lidya shook her head.

“I think it was Varian,” she said, watching Ilana frown. “I know it sounds crazy, and I have no idea what he could be doing here, but he called me his sword.”

“And?”

“That’s how the soldiers in Ashran called me. The Sword of Wrynn.”

“Maybe it’s someone who knows about it trying to trap you.”

“Why would anyone do it instead of just killing me?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “to manipulate you or get you to tell them something.”

“Or maybe it’s Varian.”

Ilana’s lips thinned and she said nothing.

“Come on, it’s doesn’t sound half as crazy as some of the stunts I’ve seen you pull.”

A smirk pulled at the corner of her lips and Ilana rolled her eyes.

“ _Fine_. It’s not as crazy as that one time in Azsuna.”

“You made Kayn and Belath cry.”

“They deserved it,” she said with a dismissive hand gesture, “but if you’re right and this _was_ Varian, then I swear on my life that I’ll kill you both if you don’t wake up soon and _get together_.”

“The way you got together with Khadgar a few weeks ago?” asked the archmage with a smirk.

Ilana froze for a second, before starting to frown.

“He told you?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m his only friend, and he’s madly in love with you, of course he told me.”

“Does he know it was only a one time thing?”

Lidya nodded and watched Ilana relax a little.

“Did you tell him about Loramus?” she asked, and when Ilana shook her head she sighed. “Did you do it because of that thing Kayn did that you don’t want to tell me about?”

Ilana nodded.

“Look,” continued the archmage, “there’s something I have to tell you, but you have to promise not to get mad at me.”

“You know I can’t promise that, but I’ll do my best.”

“Thanks.” Lidya paused for a moment, wondering how to tell her with tact and minimum drama. “I thought about it for a very long time. I’ve done my research and I’ve talked with a _lot_ of people, and I think I finally have a real solution.”

“To what?”

“To Loramus’ problem. I think we can get him out of Razelikh’s body and give him his back.”

For a while Ilana didn’t react.

“Is this a joke?”

“I would never,” replied Lidya.

“Do you realize what you’re telling me?”

Lidya nodded, heart squeezing uncomfortably as she though back to the time in Draenor when Anaar and her had stepped near Shattrath and one of the Anchorite had joined them to hug Anaar, who had sobbed against her shoulder because the Anchorite was his _dead sister_. She didn’t want to think about the moment they had been told that Balan was in Shattrath, with the Anaar of this timeline and the rest of their siblings, all of whom had already been dead by the time they had crashed on Azeroth and met Lidya.

“I realize how huge it is, and that it could be false hope because there’s no certainty that it would work, but if he agrees to do it, I have people ready to help.”

Ilana gritted her teeth hard enough that a muscle in her jaw jumped, and she nodded.

Lidya knew that it was equal to a teary thank you, coming from an Illidari, and she treated it as such.

  


  


***

  


  


No mysterious guard able to speak Common showed up for the two other weeks Lidya spent in Suramar before finally being able to go to Dalaran for a few days.

It was crazy how good it felt to wear her real skin outside of her bedroom.

She met up with her sister Léria, surprised to find out that she had joined the priests’ order to fight the Legion. Lidya didn’t know the High Priest, an undead man, but she didn’t trust him and would have preferred someone from literally any other race to be a leader to her little sister. She didn’t tell her that though, because according to Léria he was nice and amazing and very powerful, and Lidya was too happy to be able to spend time with her in Dalaran to want to ruin it.

“Have you been invited to the Noblegarden Ball yet?” asked Léria as they were ready to part way. “Well, of course you have, if the rumors are true – and _they are_ , the Illidari in Stormwind told me everything.”

“What?” frowned Lidya, but she was ignored.

“Let’s go dress shopping together, alright? I know _the best_ tailor in town.”

“I don’t know when that ball is happening but I’m not going.”

Léria frowned.

“Why not?”

“I’m too busy.”

“It’s tomorrow night.”

“I’ll be sleeping.”

Léria rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Your demon hunter best friend came to me and we have a deal. You _have_ to go, or she’ll force you.”

“You hanging out with Ilana really isn’t putting me at ease.”

“I know,” smiled Léria, before hugging her.

Lidya wrapped her arms around her and held on tight, closing her eyes as her sister’s blond hair – the only difference in their appearance – tickled her nose.

“I missed you,” she murmured.

“I missed you too,” replied Léria, squeezing her once before letting go and stepping back, a smile on her lips. “So, the ball?”

“It doesn’t sound like I have a choice.”

“Damn right,” she beamed.

  


  


***

  


  


Lidya had to admit that Léria’s tailor was _really_ good.

She also felt uncomfortable in her backless dress, but neither the tailor, a beaming Léria, Ilana or Ravandwyr seemed to care.

Vargoth, who never left Ravandwyr’s side now, was the only one to give her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder when she expressed doubts about her dress.

“You’re going with short hair today,” said Ravandwyr, “everyone can see the back of your neck this way, it’s _perfect_!”

Her only consolation was that her dress, a dark blue thing that sparkled ever so slightly in the right light and looked almost liquid when she moved, was long enough to brush against the floor and hid her still blood-stained boots.

“You look amazing,” said Léria, before kissing her cheek and spraying perfume on her, “just don’t forget to tell me everything tomorrow.”

“If there’s anything to tell,” replied Lidya, but almost everyone rolled their eyes so she decided not to talk to them anymore.

The rest was a little surreal.

Lidya teleported everyone to Stormwind and Ilana and Léria immediately lost them in the middle of the huge crowd in the Keep’s ballroom. The three mages decided to join a side of the room and Ravandwyr grabbed one of her hand at the same time as he grabbed one of Vargoth’s so no one got lost. It took them about ten minutes of being pushed around and stepping on people’s toes before they finally found themselves in a calmish corner, and Lidya took her time admiring the sheer number of people who had showed up this time.

The last time she had seen as many people all at the same place, she was facing the Iron Horde’s army and stepping on Draenor for the first time, pretty sure she was going to die.

Not that she didn’t feel like she was going to die now, because she could see several groups of people pointing fingers in her direction while murmuring, and she doubted it was because of Ravandwyr or Vargoth.

“Is everyone looking at me or am I going crazy?”

“Everyone is looking,” replied Ravandwyr, “but it’s fine. You’ll be fine.”

“I doubt it.”

“He’s right,” added Vargoth, a gentle smile on his face when Lidya turned to him. “You’ll be fine. They’re staring because you are gorgeous.”

Lidya looked down at her dress at that.

She wasn’t naive, she knew exactly what she usually looked like. Running after monsters and demons through wild forests kept her well in shape, but she was nowhere near what an elf naturally looked like, and the only person she wanted to impress that night saw Tyrande Whisperwind from up close on a weekly basis. She doubted she could beat that.

“I don’t know about that,” she replied after a moment, looking up at the crowd and meeting some eyes in the process, “but I guess it’s too late to change now.”

“Exactly!” replied Ravandwyr, clapping his hands. “Now, if you’ll excuse us,” he said as soft music started playing, and he lead Vargoth to the middle of the room, where other couples were already starting to dance.

Sighing, Lidya decided to go hunt down the food buffet.

  


  


***

  


  


It was about the worst ball she had ever been to. No one came talk to her. People were either ignoring her, or staring uncomfortably. She saw Vargoth and Ravandwyr from afar from time to time, but they were dancing and she didn’t want to interrupt their happiness.

They deserved to be left alone.

Ilana and Léria though, those two Lidya was getting ready to murder. The demon hunter winked at her from the other side of the room _at least_ seven times, before disappearing into the crowd, and while she didn’t see her little sister much, she would bet that she was never far from Ilana.

All in all, this party, which Lidya had somehow convinced herself would help her mood, was only making her feel even more depressed.

She moved to the other buffet, the one with the drinks, and went straight for the pandaren booze, listening with half an ear to the cacophony around. She was finishing her second drink and already reaching for a third one when she heard her sister’s laugh from what sounded like very close.

Turning around, Lidya’s heart squeezed a little in her chest when she saw Varian smiling softly and speaking with Anduin, Léria, Ilana and several other humans she had never seen before. He looked like Léria had his entire attention, and Lidya watched the way he drew his head back as he laughed at what she was saying.

Léria was only two years younger than her, but Lidya couldn’t help but think that she was everything she could have become.

It had been their dreams, when they were little, to become priestesses in Stormwind. Léria had done just that, while Lidya had been forced to go to Dalaran, only to be thrown out of the city a few years later.

They looked eerily alike, except that instead of short brown hair, Léria had shiny shoulder-length blond hair that only made the brown of her eyes – boring on Lidya – stand out more. She also had a certain softness to her that Lidya had lost a long time ago – one didn’t defeat and Old God at sixteen and stay innocent.

Sweet, gorgeous, innocent Léria. The Holy Priestess of the family. Their parents’ pride.

Lidya didn’t hold any of that against her. She _loved_ Léria, but seeing her smile and speak and laugh with Varian like that, she couldn’t help but feel bitter at her own numerous faults.

 _This is a disaster_ , she thought as she realized that she was starting to be jealous of her little sister.

She put the drink she was still holding down and turned away, wondering if leaving now would be a good idea.

 _Yes_ , she thought, _excellent idea_.

She took a step in the direction of the room’s big entrance, and was immediately stopped by two things: Anduin calling her name, and literally everyone in a ten meters radius turning to look at her.

Freezing, Lidya considered for a solid second blinking away and calling it a night, politeness be damned, but she couldn’t do it to Anduin.

She always had had a soft spot for him.

Turning around, Lidya didn’t even try to pretend that she was smiling, and she was surprised to find that Ilana had disappeared from their group.

“Your Majesty,” she said as she joined them, her soul leaving her body a little more after each step she took. “I see you’ve met my sister.”

“Oh we’re known each other for a while now,” laughed Anduin, his own blond hair shining under the chandelier’s light, “we used to share some classes during our training.”

“I see,” replied Lidya. She didn’t have the energy or emotional capacity to feel anything about the fact that Léria had never thought about mentioning it.

“Do you feel well?” asked one of the human in the group, a man who didn’t look much older than Anduin.

Léria’s hand immediately touched her shoulder and Lidya felt her Light relax the muscles of her shoulders and back, but it did nothing about her emotional turmoil.

“Yes, I’m just tired,” she replied, grimacing a fake smile and discreetly shouldering Léria’s hand away. “You know how it is, fighting the Legion is busy and tiring work.”

The humans forced small laughs but no one’s heart was in it.

“If I may...” started Varian, and Lidya forced herself to meet his eyes, “let me take you to the balconies, it’s calmer there.”

She nodded and accepted his arm when he offered it, pretending she couldn’t see the way everyone was looking at them.

The crowd parted for them, and Lidya focused very hard on putting one foot in front of the other, a jittery feeling in her stomach making her feel like arcane magic was dancing across her skin where she touched Varian.

The huge balcony they joined _was_ calmer – it was, in fact, completely empty – and once they had both joined the railing and let go of each other, Lidya took good care of lowering her internal temperature to a normal person’s, so she could feel the soft breeze on her skin the same way Varian did.

“On a scale of one to Sha of Anger, how mad at me are you?” asked Varian after a moment, hands gripping the railing as he looked at the horizon.

“I’m above ‘the responsibility of the Tirisgarde was dumped on me when I couldn’t say no’ but below ‘Genn decided to declare war to the Horde when we already have the Legion to focus on’.”

“So, not that great.”

“No, not that great.”

He sighed softly and turned to look at her, the lights coming from the gardens below and the ball behind them making shadows dance over his face.

“I had to do something. You were going to attack him and die.”

“I still killed him.”

A bitter smile appeared on his lips.

“I had guessed so.”

“Are you mad?”

“That you killed him? No. That you’re going through all of that alone? Extremely so.”

“That’s why you were here? Because you didn’t want me to be alone?”

He looked away and frowned, but Lidya was used to it by now.

“I’m less mad than I’m surprised and confused, if it makes you feel better,” she said when he didn’t add anything.

“It actually does.”

She chuckled, relaxing for the first time in the evening, and received a smile.

“Life had been really shitty recently, hasn’t it?”

Varian laughed and fully turned to her, leaning with a hip against the railing. “It has. I hope this ball doesn’t make yours even more so.”

“My evening is getting better as we speak, let’s just hope it continues like this.”

Varian’s eyes caressed down her face to her lips as he nodded, and for the first time in the evening Lidya took her time to look at him.

His hair was done up in a complicated bun that, somehow, made him look even manlier and more gorgeous than he already was. He had a satin shirt, the same pale blue of his eyes, and tight black pants that Lidya didn’t look too much at because it would quickly get embarrassing if she started drooling over his thighs.

The scars on his face looked almost gone in the shadows, and there was a certain softness in his eyes that she had never seen before that last time, when she had seen him in his office after almost drowning.

She really wanted to be held by him.

“You look amazing too, you know,” he smiled, taking her out of her contemplation and making her laugh.

“So you’re aware of the effect you have on people? That’s good to know, I wasn’t sure until then.”

“Of course I am, but only the effect I have on certain people matters.”

Lidya blushed and her temperature grew a little hotter.

“Go on and you might just make me decide to stay a while longer.”

“Well, you still owe me a ball, since you didn’t come to the last one,” he said, holding out his hand, the smallest of happy smiles on his face.

“I do,” she replied, putting her hand in his and letting him lead her back inside, to the crowd and the music and the curious glances.

As if they had done it on purpose, a new song started just as they stepped on the dance floor, and Lidya shivered when Varian’s hand directly touched her skin, just under the shoulder blades.

“Did I tell you that you look amazing in this dress?” he asked as they started dancing, Lidya’s hand on his shoulder.

“You kind of did but I could hear it again.”

“You look amazing.”

“Thanks, you do too. How did your tailor manage to make this shirt the exact same shade as your eyes?”

“He’s quel’dorei,” he replied, smiling so much that Lidya was pretty sure his face was going to cramp in a minutes with how unused to that he was. “You?”

“It was Léria’s tailor, but quel’dorei too.”

“And no long hair today.”

“Ravandwyr didn’t want my back to be hidden.”

“He was right,” he replied, a question in his eyes, and when Lidya nodded his hand slid just a little bit lower and, almost without realizing what she was doing, she stepped closer to him, her own hand sliding more toward his chest.

She knew, the moment she started stroking his soft shirt with her thumb, right above his heart, that she was going to kiss him before the end of the evening.

All she could do now was hope she wouldn’t do it in front of everyone.

They just stared into each other’s eyes for a while, the music and deaf brouhaha of the room the only sounds reaching them into the small bubble they had created, and they didn’t even stop dancing in between two songs.

Varian’s hand had lowered to the little of her back and Lidya was practically plastered to his chest by the time the sixth song came on, and they finally stopped to go drink something.

“Did I tell you how amazing you look?” asked Varian right into her ear just as she was taking a sip of water, facing the buffet and Varian at her back.

“You have,” she replied, turning to look at him with an amused smile. “Did I tell you that I didn’t want to wear that dress at first?”

“It doesn’t surprise me. It’s more Ilana’s style.”

“Exactly.”

He stepped next to her, grabbed a glass of water of his own and started drinking, his eyes never leaving her for more than two heartbeats, and as soon as he had finished his drink Lidya grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the dance floor.

  


  


***

  


  


Lidya couldn’t really tell how it happened.

They danced and talked all night long, so it only seemed logical to get out of the ballroom and join Varian’s office at some point – they even stole food and drinks as they went.

There was a comfortable couch in his office, and they sat on it, probably way too close to each other than they really needed, and for some reason Lidya couldn’t stop touching his sleeve and the hard muscles under it, but it was fine, because Varian was smiling and was playing with her other hand.

Then it happened.

There was a lull in the conversation, Varian was staring at her mouth and she was practically sitting on his lap, so she reached up without thinking, cupped one of his soft cheek in her hand, and not a moment later his even softer lips were on hers, and she was kissing him back.

It was better than she remembered – but that wasn’t really a surprise. The desperation and weight of the only time they had kissed wasn’t here, quite the contrary. Varian seemed relaxed under her hands, they were sure no one was going to interrupt them, and while death was still looming on the horizon, it was still a lot farther than it had been in Northrend.

Varian’s hands grabbed her waist and she stopped thinking, letting herself be guided when he moved so he was kneeling on the couch and she was laying back on the cushions.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been wishing for this,” he murmured against her lips when her free hand grabbed the back of his neck and she spread her legs to pull him closer.

“I think I do,” she replied with a breathless laugh, butterflies exploding in her stomach as he grabbed her thighs where her dress had hiked up to reveal almost everything and he started kneading her skin. “I really think I know _exactly_ what you’re talking about.”

“Good,” he breathed, before starting to kiss down her neck.

Tilting her chin up to give him better access and closing her eyes, Lidya took a second to express her gratitude to the Light and the cosmos at large, before she let go of his face to explore under his shirt instead, biting down on her lower lip to block out embarrassing sounds when she touched his abs.

 _I can’t believe this man is real_ , she thought, letting go of his nape to fully grope him with both hands, already feeling wet.

He was sucking a hickey at the base of her neck and his hands had slid to her pelvis, but it was still a shock when his thumb brushed against her clit trough her underwear, and she moaned maybe a little too loudly.

He grunted, and did it again, putting more pressure this time and doing small circles that had her panting after only a few seconds.

“Can I take it off?” he murmured against her throat, the fingers of his other hand pulling lightly at her underwear, and she nodded hard.

“Please,” she panted, “you don’t even have to ask.”

He chuckled, kissing up to her jaw and gently biting as he pulled her underwear down to her knees and she finished taking it off with one hand.

She shivered from head to toe when he finally touched her with two fingers, caressing around without too much pressure, until she was planting her nails in his back and rocking against his hand, panting hard and eyes closed.

“Can I do something?”

She nodded as he kissed her. “Anything.”

He kissed her again, and she moaned unhappily when he slid away from her, off the couch, so he was kneeling on the carpeted floor.

Lidya looked down, met his eyes, heart turning over in her chest, because she suddenly knew exactly what he was planning and she was _so_ on board.

“Just tell me if you want me to stop, okay?”

She nodded, heart in her throat, and pulled her dress higher up on her stomach, watching with fascination as Varian leaned down, first to plant sloppy kisses up her thigh, before it turned into playful bites and, after gently pushing her legs further apart, his lips closed over her, taking her breath away for a moment before quickly making her moan.

Lidya tried not to, but she ran her fingers through his hair and destroyed his hairdo despite her best effort, holding on to his soft hair to find some sort of anchor and pull him closer to her at the same time, but he hummed and groaned every time she accidentally pulled on some of his locks, and it felt _so good_ when he made those sounds while his tongue was on her clit that she couldn’t find it in herself to feel sorry. Quite the contrary.

Varian was relentless. He licked and sucked and kissed with the same determination and intensity he did everything else, and it didn’t take long at all before Lidya was loudly moaning his name and arching up off the cushions, every muscle taut as an orgasm was punched out of her, leaving her shaky and breathless under his mouth.

He stopped right before it could go from pleasurable to uncomfortable and a little painful, and Lidya opened eyes she hadn’t realized she had closed to find him back to kneeling on the couch between her legs, sucking his lower lip between his teeth and his chin glistening in the low light coming off the only lamp they had turned on.

His hair was an absolute mess, he was panting and his cheeks were red, and Lidya was absolutely sure that she would never forget this image.

It was, by far, the best thing she had ever seen in her entire life.

“We should move to a bed,” she said, still breathing hard.

Varian smiled happily, grabbed her legs to gently wrap them around his waist, before he was wrapping an arm around her waist and grabbing her butt with his other hand – under her dress, and he made sure to grope her in the process, which had her chuckle happily – and lifting her up. He walked to the door behind his desk, which took them to a narrow corridor where they had to take a break because Lidya had started to suck on the skin of his neck and he was apparently _very_ sensible there, and the narrow corridor ended on a door that took them to a bedroom that looked exactly the way Lidya had imagined his bedroom to look like.

A little too bare for a king, but with a bed big enough to have six people sleeping comfortably in it.

It was only going to be the two of them, but she knew for sure that they were going to make the best out of that bed.

  


  


***

  


  


Lidya woke up slowly.

She hadn’t slept that well and felt so comfortable and safe in at least six years, and after yawning and stretching, several muscle groups feeling deliciously sore, she rolled onto her left side and couldn’t help but beam as she came face to face with a sleeping Varian.

He looked relaxed for once and a lot younger than usual, and the fact that Lidya now knew what he looked like naked only made it better.

 _He’s naked in the same bed I’m naked in right now_ , she thought, giggling like an idiot into a pillow not to wake him up.

 _Not only do I know what he looks like naked, I also know what face he makes when he’s coming_.

Just thinking about it made her shiver.

Light, she didn’t think she could get happier than she was right in this instant.

A soft sound coming from behind him got her attention, and her eyes fell on the gnomish clock on his bedside table, that indicated a _very_ late hour compare to what she was used to.

For a second she didn’t register the numbers, her eyes going back to Varian, before her brain fully connected and remembered that she had people to see and places to be.

She swore, rolled over on her other side and leaned over the side of the bed to grab her dress from where Varian had more or less thrown it the night before. Holding the dress to her chest, she sat up in the bed and, feeling conflicted, looked at him.

He looked peaceful, and it was the first time since meeting him that she saw that expression on his face, but she couldn’t just teleport away and leave him alone in his bed without an explanation.

It pained her to do so, but she put her hand on his shoulder – large and hard shoulder that she had held on to the night before – and gently shook him.

“Varian?”

He sighed softly.

“Varian? Wake up,” she tried again.

This time he groaned softly, Lidya’s heart squeezing in her chest as she watched him frown a little before his face relaxed again.

“Varian, come on, you’ll get to sleep more afterwards, I promise.”

She gave one last shake, a little more forceful than the last ones, and he finally opened his eyes, looking lost for a second before their eyes met and he gave her a sleepy smile.

“Lidya,” he rasped, voice warm and low and everything she had ever dreamed of.

She cupped his cheek in her hand and stroked his cheekbone with her thumb, unable to help herself, heart growing at least two sizes when he closed his eyes and pressed his face against her palm, his jaw prickling her skin.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” she said and he opened his eyes again, “but I was supposed to meet Tae’thelan in Suramar ten minutes ago.”

“Okay.”

“I didn’t want to leave without telling you.”

“In case I woke up alone and got ideas?” he asked with a smile.

She smiled back and nodded, heart skipping a beat when he gently grabbed her wrist and turned his head to kiss her palm.

“Thanks for telling me, it was a good call.”

“I really didn’t want to wake you up.”

“It’s fine.”

She nodded, her hand still on his face, and leaned down to kiss him, the feeling in her chest when he kissed her back indescribable – but it did leave her breathless and smiling broadly.

“You’re not putting it on?” he asked when she sat back up, pointing with his chin at the dress she was still holding to her chest.

“I’ll teleport directly to my chambers and take a shower, there’s no need.”

He nodded, his eyes not leaving her face, and for a moment they didn’t move.

“I think you should go now, considering you’re already late,” he said.

“You’re right,” she replied, leaning down to kiss him again, just because she could. “I’ll be in Dalaran for the next week, if you feel like visiting me.”

“I will,” he said with a warm smirk as she moved back from him and started to cast a teleportation spell.

She smirked back.


End file.
